Commentary & Analysis
B2B Marketing Budgets Expected to be Up in 2010
By David Dodd
Published: June 29, 2009
About half (53.0%) of B2B marketers expect their budgets to increase in 2010, according to a recent study by BtoB magazine. The study was based on an online survey of 495 business-to-business marketers conducted between May 14 and June 2. About 37 percent of survey respondents expect their 2010 budgets to be flat (compared to 2009), while only 10 percent expect to see marketing spend decline in 2010.
The BtoB survey also asked marketers how they expected their spending on various marketing channels to change in 2010 compared to 2009. The chart below shows that, for the most part, B2B marketers do not expect to make major changes in their media mix in 2010. The one exception is online spending, where almost 69 percent of survey respondents expect spending to increase.
Even more encouraging, the BtoB survey indicates that about one-third (32.3%) of marketers say that their budgets will be up in the second half of 2009, compared to the first half of the year. Forty-six percent of survey respondents expect their spending in the second half of 2009 to be flat, while 21 percent expect a decline in the second half spending.
In general, the BtoB survey results are good news for marketing services firms that work with B2B enterprises. They suggest that many B2B companies believe that the worst of the recession is (or soon will be) over and that the recovery will begin sometime in the second half of this year. But these results must also be viewed cautiously. First, they reflect expectations, and expectations don't always turn into realities. Second, even if marketing budgets do increase in 2010, those increases may not take budgets back to pre-recession levels. And finally, marketing budgets are likely to remain under close scrutiny even if they are increased. In these circumstances, marketing services firms must remain prepared to demonstrate the value of the marketing programs they advocate.
G. David Dodd is available for speaking engagements and consulting projects. To get more information contact us here.
G. David Dodd is a principal of Point Balance, LLC ( www.pointbalance.com ), an executive education and management consulting firm. Point Balance provides cutting-edge management education programs designed for printing and publishing executives. The firm also provides management consulting services involving business strategy development, strategic marketing, cost management (including activity-based costing), business process management, and balanced scorecard performance management systems. Dodd is a co-author of Activity-Based Costing for Printers: An Implementation Guide, the authoritative resource relating to the use of activity-based costing by printing and publishing firms. Dodd also co-authored Making Value Added Services Work, a comprehensive reference tool for printing company managers who are just beginning to consider diversification or who have already added new services and are not receiving the benefits they expected.
David Dodd can be reached at ddodd@pointbalance.com,931-707-5105.
David,
I assume that on line spending is going to be about social media. If you put QR codes onto postcards, posters and newsletters it should have the ability to maximize that investment.
Instead of fighting the battle for old uses of Print, if we ride the mobile wave, I would think it would work.
I did at post a Digital Nirvana trying to lay out the thought model. Any reactions would be much appreciated. I just can't see why it wouldn't work.
The link: http://tinyurl.com/n4cakh
Michael J - The survey addressed your assumption, at least in part. Within the online marketing category, 63.8% of respondents said they expect to increase spending on Website development in 2009 compared to 2008, 61.8% said they will increase e-mail marketing, 49.5% said they will increase search marketing spending, and 46.2% said they will increase spending on social media. The survey did not address this breakdown for 2010 vs. 2009.
I agree with Michael J overall here in that the way to grow MSP (or PSP) revenues is to look for ways to intermix print with the Internet. QR codes are a good way to do this. PURLs are another good way (although more cumbersome to type out).
The key is to become less print-centric in *how you market your services* - and expand/reposition yourself as more *communications-centric* via the use of many interconnected channels.
This will resonate with the increasing number of CMOs (whose jobs rely on driving demand) and CIOs (who own data/print centers). Both need to show increased response rates from every marketing/IT dollar spent.
Excuse my ignorance, QR codes?
Hi Todd - Quick Response, a matrix like a barcode. You scan it on your cellphone camera and it takes you directly to a website.
I hate to add to my reputation of Dr. Doom, but the chart clearly shows that print had the greatest number of respondents indicating a decrease. "No change" is not helpful either, since that is already down at rather bad levels.
Anything that has direct response of any kind that gives communicators rapid and measurable results will get their attention, and their budgets. QR won't be the answer right now, but will be one of many answers in the near future.
Dr Doom I hope you never lose the brand:-),
Glad to see you weigh in. For marketing, suppose it turns out that print can be demonstrated to increase the effectiveness of social marketing.
My take is that all the buzz is social media. But the reality is that no one has yet figured out how to measure ROI on social media.
Meanwhile, the other buzz is the mobile web. Telecoms are spending gezillions trying to gain market share.
So, if someone can demonstrate to someone else with power that more print could mean more cell phone adoption that provide a hit. Suppose it turns out that there is a simple way to connect Print to Personal TV AND harvest the exchange data. The technology is the smart phone with a dynamic QR code (sort of a pURL) on steroids.
If all this came to pass, might it point to a growing, as opposed to a shrinking role for print.
I'll leave all my blabla about clickable newspapers instead of textbooks for a different venue.
Not to say that dynamic QR are a magic bullet. I think, like you, I believe the only magic bullet is maniacal focus and evidence based decision making.
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